


Green Hair

by IAmAwesomeMe



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Green hair, inspired by instagram
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-19 23:24:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14883218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmAwesomeMe/pseuds/IAmAwesomeMe
Summary: Ok, this is a head canon between me and beautiful_zumann on instagram that I loved so much, I had to write.





	Green Hair

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, this is a head canon between me and beautiful_zumann on instagram that I loved so much, I had to write.

“Di, promise you will come over after school,” Anne said to her friend. “Matthew is away on farm business on Charlottetown, and Marilla is at Rachel Lynde’s till dinner time. We’ll have the whole house to ourselves, since Jerry still has work to do on the farm, and I planed something extra special for us to do.” Anne was positive shaking with anticipation.

“Of course I will come, Anne,” Diana assured her. “What are you planing.”

“Oh, I couldn’t say here,” Anne said, looking around the school house. “To many ears listening in,” Anne said pointedly, directing the remark two rows back where Gilbert was staring at them. Getting the hint, he looked back down to his slate and went back to his work, but kept smiling and glancing up occasionally. “Either way,” Anne returned to her friend, “I want it to be a surprise.”

Diana smiled, happy that they were so close that Anne confided in her before anyone else. Mr. Phillips grew tired of the noise and reminded them all that this was a _silent_ study time, cutting their conversation short.

-

After dropping her bags back at home and having the quickest piano practise known to man, Diana made her way over to Green Gables. Anne greeted her on the front porch, ushering her inside and up to her room with a joyful but boundless energy.

“Anne, calm down,” Diana soothed. “What is it you want to show me?”

“This!” Anne exclaimed, unveiling a dark brown bottle from below her pillow where she had kept it hidden.

“Mr. Fantastic’s Miracle Dye?” Diana read from the label.

“I’m going to dye my hair black, like yours!” Anne exclaimed. “And I want you to help.”

“Anne, are you sure? This stuff looks pretty permanent,” Diana cautioned.

“The more permanent the better,” Anne insisted. “I’m tired of being gawked at for my red hair. I want it black, like yours.”

“If your sure, then I’d love to help,” Diana supported her friend. “Now, what do we need?”

Anne and Diana got together a chair, a few towels, a wash basin with water and a hairbrush. Anne sat in the chair and lay the towel on her shoulders to protect her dress as Diana wet the brush and combed Anne’s hair. Once it was rid of any tangles, Diana added some of the dye to the brush and combed through Anne’s hair again, adding more dye as needed. Diana started from the top of the head and worked her way down to the tips. Then they covered the hair with a few more towels and waited.

“It says to wait 15 minutes,” Anne read from the label.After coming back from washing her hands, Diana sat at the edge of Anne’s bed. “We used around two thirds of the bottle,” Anne noticed.

“I hope we used enough,” Diana said.

“Even if my hair is a slightly reddish black it would still be an improvement,” Anne said. “In fact, anything would be an improvement,” Anne declared.

Diana and Anne continued to talk for the rest of the time. Eventually, Diana said “I think it should be good now.”

Anne looked straight forward as Diana stepped behind and took of the towels. Anne waited in anticipation for Diana to declare what beautiful black hair she had, but nothing came. “Doesn’t it look wonderful?” Anne prompted, but again her friend was silent. “Diana?” Anne was concerned, so she turned around to find Diana horror-sicken. “Diana?” Anne was now very concerned.

“It’s… It’s…” Diana couldn’t say it.

“It’s GREEN!” Anne screamed, after she grabbed a piece of her hair from behind her to see for herself.

“Anne, I’m sorry,” Diana said, as Anne rushed over to the bottle.  
“It doesn’t say anything about it being green,” Anne said.

“Well where did you buy it?” Diana asked.

“From a peddler,” Anne said. “He asked if I wanted any dyes and I said that I wanted my hair dyed and he showed me this.”

“Did the peddler have a bowl hat?” Diana inquired.

“Well, yes,” Anne said

“Walked with a limb on the right side?”

“Yes.”

“And a huge, red nose?”  
“Yes.”

“I think the same peddler came to our house,” Diana confessed. “He asked my mom the same question, only she needed red dye for a rug. I’m not sure but I think he tried to sell her the exact same dye.”

Anne started to cursed in frustration, pacing back and forth angrily. “That peddler will rots in hell for the horrible trick he has played on me. I hope that right now his immortal soul is being dragged down by Beelzebub personally. May they come up with new and interesting methods of torure, specially for him. May his arms be stretched out, beyond what they can bear. His legs will be cursed to dance a jig and never stop, not even if he’s exhausted. He can’t die, he’s already dead. His eyes will be confronted with nothing but images of his naked grandmother all day long, and when he least expects it someone will press a cold snowball up against the back of his neck. As a final coup-de-gras, they will take a big knife and cut off his-”

“Anne, calm down,” Diana interrupted. “We should be thinking about how to solve this.”

“Well, wha do you know that gets out dyes?” Anne asked.

They both thought for a moment, then Diana remembered something. “I heard my mother say something about vinegar and hair dyes.”

“It’s better than nothing,” Anne said. The two girls, one with black hair one with green hair, went down to the pantry. They found the vinegar, but also found it to be almost empty!

“We just bought a huge jug of vinegar back at my house,” Diana said. “I’ll go get it.”

“I’ll stay here, so no one can see this,” Anne picked up a few strands of her hair and made a face at it.

Diana left, and Anne wandered over to where her sewing was. She brought it out and worked on it as she waited. Suddenly, she heard a loud neigh then shout from the field.

“Revien! Revien!” Jerry shouted. Anne dropped her sewing and ran out to see what was the matter. She saw the horse, running from Jerry who was trying to get it back. “C’est just une serpent!”

The house was making a break for it, and Jerry couldn’t catch up. Luckily, Anne was right in between the horse and the horse’s destination. She ran out, spreading her arms wide to try and stop the horse. The horse reared up again, but did not calm down. Instead, it turned and bolted the other way, trying to get to the main road. Anne tried to grab the horses’s reigns before it left again, but to no avail. She fell down in the dirt instead.

Normally, you’d grab another horse and ride that one to catch an escapee. Unfortunately, the Cuthbert's already sold Belle, meaning Anne and Jerry had to follow on foot. The horse was going to calm down and stop eventually, it was more a matter of keeping the trail than catching up. Anne was closest, so she bolted after the horse with Jerry following behind her.

She followed the horse through the front gate, down past Mrs. Lynde’s place, and into the town. She lost sight of it, but could still hear it ahead of her. Then she heard a different sound.

“Woah, woah there horsy,” said a man up above. Anne caught up and found Gilbert holding the reigns and calmly petting the horse, only he wasn’t alone. He was with Josie, Ruby and Moody. They all looked at the horse in wonder, then looked back where it came from and saw Anne standing there. She had just run a long way and her chest felt like it was burning and not getting any air. She took a few long breaths, trying to get her breathing back to normal. Everyone of her friends was looking at her strangely, but she was to exhausted to speak. She bent over, putting her hands on her knees, concentrating on breathing as a few strands of green hair fell into her view. She cursed herself as she remembered. She was so focused on getting the horse back, she forgot she pledged to not leave the house.

She looked back at her friends. Josie and Ruby were both confused and shocked, Moody looked vaguely disgusted, but Gilbert had a little bit of a smile on his face. He probably enjoyed watching her humiliate herself.

Anne stood up straight, mustered up what little dignity remained to her, and walked confidently over the small group. “Thank you, Mr. Blythe, for catching my horse,” Anne said, extending her hand the reigns, but Gilbert didn’t give them just yet.

“Is this the surprise you were talking about with Diana?” Gilbert asked.

“You shouldn’t listen in on other people’s intimate conversions,” Anne returned.

“But is it?” Gilbert asked again.

“Not intentionally,” Anne said through gritted teeth. “Now, Mr. Blythe, if you could just hand me back my horse-” Anne tried to continue but was cut off.

“Hey Jerry! Did you know about this?” Gilbert called over Anne’s shoulder. Anne turned and Jerry had also appeared.

“I have no idea what happened, her hair was fine when she came home from school,” Jerry yelled back.

All this yelling was attracting the eyes of the neighbours. Jane and Billy Andrews came out of their house to see what all the fuss was about. Great, Anne thought, let’s get more people involved.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” Anne asked Gilbert bitterly.

“I was going to tutor these guys to help them with their math homework,” Gilbert explained cheerfully. “How exactly did you do that?” Gilbert asked, gesturing to Anne’s colourful hair.

Anne had had enough. She was embarrassed by everyone’s eyes, staring at her like she was an exotic animal at the zoo. She snatched the reigns back from Gilbert, the tears starting to form in her eyes. With one big pull and jump, she was on the horses back. Though there was no saddle, Anne was fine riding bareback for the short while home. She kicked the horse hard and speed down the lane, back to Green Gables. Anne didn’t hear Gilbert shouting apologies at her, she cried the entire way home, which was a very short trip. Barely seeing through the tears, Anne dismounted the horse and hastily tired it back to place before running to the house, up the stairs, and collapsing on her bed in tears.

-

Marilla was with Rachel the entire afternoon. They were working on their knitting together. Marilla didn’t worry about Anne, she was sure Anne and Jerry were competent enough to not burn down the house in her absence. Around halfway through Marilla’s knotting, she heard something moving outside, followed by a flash of green. Marilla was sitting at an odd angle, so she didn’t get a very good look. Still she didn’t pay it much mind.

She didn’t mind much of anything, but when Rachel heard a commotion outside she wanted to move closer to the window to get a better view. They came out and saw Anne riding bareback on the Cuthbert’s horse with bright green hair.

It was such an odd sight, with women were sure they were hallucinating. Then they looked at each other and knew by the expression on the other’s face it was real.

“Was that…?” Marilla asked.

“Anne with green hair,” Rachel confirmed.

“And riding our horse,” Marilla continued. Their eyes were drawn to the window again to see Jerry and Gilbert running after her. “I have to go home,” Marilla announced. She left immediately, not even bothering to grab her coat. It was a odd parade, with a green haired Anne riding area of them, Gilbert and Jerry running behind her, and Marilla power walking to bring up the rear.

When she got to Green Gables, she heard a commotion up in Anne’s room. Se went up to find Anne sitting on the edge of her bed, being comforted by Diana who was sitting beside her. Gilbert stood nearby, wanting to help but not knowing how to. Jerry stood awkwardly in the corner. When he saw Marilla arrive, he sighed in relief.

“I should finish my chores,” he said, leaving the room. Anne barely noticed.

Marilla looked at Anne carefully. The child did indeed have green hair. Bright green, reaching all the way up to her scalp. Marilla reached out her had and took a few locks in her hands. “Anne,” Marilla said, “what did you do now?”

Anne couldn’t speak, she was still crying, so Diana answered for her. “We thought it was black dye,” Diana explained.

“Where did you get it?” Marilla asked.

“We got it from a peddler,” Diana said, knowing that if Marilla believed they planned it together, she’s go easy on Anne.

“Show me the bottle,” Marilla instructed.

Diana obediently got up to show it to Marilla, giving Gilbert an opportunity to take her place by Anne’s side.

“It’s going to be fine,” Gilbert said.

“I have green hair,” Anne lamented softly. “Nothing will ever be fine again.”

“It looks nice,” Gilbert responded, prompting to Anne to laugh softly. “It’s true,” Gilbert insisted. “Your colour has always been green, in my opinion. In fact, I was going to get you a green hair ribbon for your next birthday.”

“Really?” Anne asked, looking Gilbert in the eyes. “Then why did you make fun of me?”

“I wasn’t trying to,” Gilbert insisted. “I was trying to compliment you. It looks really nice. It’s radical, but you pull it off.”

“But I didn’t want to be radical, I wanted to be able to blend into the background. My red, well now green, hair always draws attention to me.”

“Well, you’re an amazing person,” Gilbert confessed. “I think more people should pay attention to you.”

Anne smiled softly. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Gilbert said firmly.

“This is not black dye,” Marilla said, interrupting their moment after inspecting the bottle.

“Well, we could tell that,” Diana said. “We were planing on giving Anne’s hair a vinegar bath to get out the dye.”

“Vinegar makes hair dye last _longer_ ,” Marilla corrected. “It’s fortunate I’m here, though it would be more fortunate to have only dyed the ends, in which case we could have just cut the hair. Now, I'm not sure how much we can get out. Rubbing alcohol takes out dye, but I’m not sure how much it will work in this case.”

They all want downstairs, and watched as Marilla treated Anne’s hair. She lay on the table with her head in a bowl of rubbing alcohol with Marilla was there with a cup, distributing it up to her roots. Diana and Gilbert stood on either side, holding Anne’s hands. Though Marilla tried her best, a few drops got near Anne’s eyes prompting Gilbert to fetch a damp cloth which he used to keep her eyes clear. Anne looked up at him from where she was lying down, looked at the concentration on his face as he examined her face, careful not to miss a drop. Then he noticed Anne staring up at him and smiled down at her. Their connection was broken when a drop moved too close to Anne’s eyes and Gilbert had to wipe it away. When they were done, the treatment worked, but not enough. Anne’s hair was still very green but a shade redder than before.

“That’s all we can do for now,” Marilla said. “We’ll do a treatment a night for the next two weeks and it should be all gone.”

“Two weeks!?” Anne exclaimed. “I’m supposed to go to school like this!?”

“Would you rather I shave it?” Marilla asked.

“No,” Anne said.

“Having green hair for a few weeks is your punishment for being foolish enough to dye your hair with dye bought from a peddler.” Marilla said firmly. “Now where is that dye? I want to dump it down the sink. Ah, here it is.”

“I can,” Gilbert offered, taking the dye from Marilla and moving to the sink. He looked down at the bottle, and instead of dumping it he slipped it inside his pocket. Instead, he emptied a forgotten glass of water down the sink and rejoined the group. Marilla had left, leaving Anne and Diana alone. A towel lay on Anne’s shoulders as her hair dried from the treatment. She and Diana sat across the table from each other. Gilbert took a seat next to Anne and listened as she worriedly ranted about the next day.

“How can I go to school like this?” Anne said. “I will be shamed forever, cast out of polite society, and at such a young age too.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Diana tried to assure her.

“Yeah, they’re going to love your new hair the way I do,” Gilbert said.

“The way we do,” Diana corrected.

“No one’s going to talk to me tomorrow,” Anne said.

“I will,” Diana said.

“And so will I,” Gilbert pledged.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Anne asked Gilbert, annoyed.

Gilbert didn’t but he could tell Anne wanted some one-on-one time with Diana. “I actually have to get back to the others,” Gilbert said, quickly leaving. “See you both tomorrow.”

“Bye, Gilbert!” Diana said, as Anne stayed silent.

-

The next day at school, Anne arrived with Diana. She had on a black toque into which she bundled all her newly coloured hair. When Gilbert saw it, he silently wished she hadn’t worn it. He wished she was as proud of her appearance as he was. Sadly, not so.

She kept the hat on as they waited for class to start, and she was getting a lot of odd stares from people. Gilbert hoped it was just about the hat, but knew that by now everyone knew about Anne’s colouring mishap. His suspicions were confirmed when Billy showed up with his two friends.

“Hey!” Billy shouted at Anne, who tried her best to keep her head down, praying for this all to pass. “Hey Carrots!” This drew some snickers from Billy’s friends. “Well, I guess we can’t call you Carrots anymore. What name would you prefer? Lettuce Head?”

Billy’s friends laughed at that, and started chanting. “Lettuce Head! Lettuce Head! Lettuce Head!”

Gilbert watched as their class formed a little circle around Billy and Anne. Anne still refused to look at Billy, her eyes were glued to the floor as Billy towered over her. Gilbert looked and could see Diana and Ruby wanting to help, but they were to scared of Billy to do anything. He also noticed Josie smiling, delighted at Billy.

“Now, why are you hiding it?” Billy asked, pointing to Anne’s hat as Anne refused to look at him. “C’mon. I need to feed some rabbits. Let me see the lettuce.” Anne still refused to look at Billy so he ripped the hat off her head, causing all her green hair to fall out.

“Give it back,” Anne said, looking up at Billy for the first time.

“Come and get it,” Billy replied, holding it away from her. Anne tried to grab it, but Billy’s arms were longer and he held her back so she couldn’t reach it. She tried her best to move around him, but he would just turn so she couldn’t get it. She was mad and frustrated and tried her best to get her hat back but couldn’t. Everyone around her chanted “Lettuce Head” over and over as she grew more and more frustrated and tired. Tears started to fall down her cheeks, prompting a laughfrom Billy and his gang, but she wouldn’t give up. Gilbert had had enough.

“Hey!” he shouted, stepping into the circle. “Give it back.”

“Looks like your defender has arrived,” Billy remarked to Anne.

“Give it back now,” Gilbert repeated.

“Or what?” Billy asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Gilbert threatened. “Give it back, I won’t ask again.”

“You want it?” Billy taunted. “Come get it.” Billy held it high above Gilbert’s head, but Gilbert wasn’t going to date his time trying to jump for it.

Gilbert instead kicked Billy, right between his legs. Hard. Billy doubled over in pain and Gilbert easily plucked the hat out of his hand.

“Here you go,” Gilbert said, giving the hat back to Anne.

Anne mumbled a thank you and she put the hat back on. The bell rang, breaking up the class’s little circle. Anne whipped her tears and headed back with them.

Gilbert turned behind him to where Billy was alone on the ground, writhing in pain. His cronies had abandoned him. Apparently, they were only loyal to you as long as you were the strongest. Gilbert looked at Billy. He could just leave him, let him suffer the way he made Anne suffer, but Gilbert wasn’t that kind of person. He walked over to Billy and helped him up.

“C’mon big guy,” Gilbert said. “Let’s get inside.”

They walked inside, to find Mr. Phillips chastising Anne.

“You know the policy about hats inside the class,” Mr. Phillips said. “Remove it at once.”

“But-” Anne tried to object.

“Remove it or remove yourself, I will not have it inside my classroom.” Mr. Phillips was firm. Slowly, Anne removed her hat and her hair tumbled out. “Oh sweet, merciful lord,” Mr. Phillips was exasperated at the sight of Anne’s verdant locks. “I don’t know what to do with you.”

“It was an accident,” Anne tried to explain.

“Save it,” Mr. Phillips didn’t want to hear it. “Class, open up your readers to page 53.”

-

At lunch the bullying wasn’t better. Josie banned Anne from entering their play area, loudly and in front of everyone.

“We don’t want to catch green-haired cooties,” Josie said.

“It was a dye,” Anne protested, “And it was an accident.”

“Well then, we don’t want to catch stupid cooties,” Josie said. “Stay out!”

Anne sadly turned away, and sat at a desk to eat her lunch. Shortly after, Diana and Ruby also left Josie to join Anne. Gilbert also excused himself from eating with Moody and Charlie to ask if he could sit with them. Anne didn’t provide much conversation, she focussed on her lunch, holding back tears. Diana, Ruby and Gilbert filled the silence instead, and you could tell that Anne was still listening because she laughed when they told jokes, if she didn’t look at them. Gilbert wanted to make her suffering easier, somehow.

Halfway though lunch, he got an idea. A way to distract everyone from Anne’s horrible accident. He wanted to act on it immediately, but knew he had to wait till after school. Still, he couldn’t wait for the next day when he could show everyone.

-

The next day, everything had been like it had been the day before. Anne in her hat, all eyes on her. That was, until Gilbert arrived. Once people saw Gilbert, they forgot about Anne entirely. People gaped at him and openly pointed, but he didn’t mind. He strolled confidently up to where Moody and Charlie were sitting.

“What’s up, guys?” he asked, nonchalantly.

“Your hair…” Moody gaped at him and couldn’t finish his sentence.

“It’s…” Charlie couldn’t speak either.

“It’s green!” Anne said from behind him. Gilbert turned around to see Anne, shocked. “Why would you do that?” Anne asked.

“You did it,” Gilbert answered.

“I meant why would you do that voluntarily,” Anne corrected herself, slightly sarcastic.

“You did it and it looked good, so I decided to try it myself,” Gilbert answered. “It helps that I didn’t throw out that dye you used.” Gilbert produced from his pocket bottle of dye, which Anne snatched away.

“This should be destroyed,” Anne said.

“I don’t know, I’m kinda digging this knew look,” Gilbert said, holding his hands up to model his new hair. Anne rolled her eyes and stuffed the bottle back into her coat pocket. She turned around to leave, but Gilbert followed her. “Don’t we look good together?” He said. “Now, when people try and make fun of you for having green hair, they’ll have to make fun of both of us.”

It was then made clear to Anne that whatever Gilbert said about fashion, he really did it to help her. She paused. “Thank you,” she said finally.

“Anytime,” Gilbert promised her.

They stared into each other eyes, and Anne softly smiled. They were interrupted by Billy’s arrival and his immediate cry of “Gilbert?”

Gilbert turned around. Apparently the cronies were back. “Yes?” Gilbert said innocently.

“Your… Your hair?”

“What about it?’

“It’s green.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“I dyed it.”

“But-” Billy was dumbfounded. Luckily, he didn’t have to finish the sentence because the school bell alarm sounded, calling them in.

“Better luck next time,” Gilbert said, heading in with Anne.

Anne took off her hat as she entered the classroom. Gilbert noticed that her hair was still only a little redder. If she continued doing the treatments every night, it should disappear but not for a while. Gilbert hadn’t done any treatments so far, and wasn’t planing on starting for the first few days. He wanted his hair to always be the greener one of the set, to make him the obvious target for any bullying.

He took his seat in the class. Mr. Phillips rolled his eyes when he saw Gilbert. “Not another one,” he said under his breath, but started the class like normal.

-

That lunch Anne didn’t even try to sit with Josie again. She went straight to her seat from yesterday. Diana tried to convince Josie to let Anne back in and apologize, but Josie was firm in her decision.

“Why would I want Lettuce Head anywhere near me?” Josie announced loudly.

In the end, Diana and Ruby joined Anne like before, and so did Gilbert. Diana and Ruby started talking about some dress they saw the past weekend, but Anne paid no attention. Gilbert studied Anne.

“Hey,” he said finally, softly elbowing his green hair partner to get her attention. “Have you ever heard of the story of Cyrano de Bergerac?” Gilbert asked.

Anne looked over at him and shook her head.

“Well, you’ll love the story,” Gilbert started, telling the story in a way that made it clear it applied to Anne. “It’s a french story, and a bit of a love story, but there’s this one part that I love the most. Cyrano has this huge nose, it’s a facial deformity, and because of that he’s not considered handsome.”

“Are you trying to say I have a ugly nose?” Anne asked defensively, her hands going up to cover it.

“No, your nose is beautiful,” Gilbert said as Anne suspiciously lowered her hands. “Cyrano is the one who has the huge, ugly deformity that anyone can pick on and makes him a huge target for cruelty.”

Anne understood that he was trying to draw a connection between Cyrano’s nose and her green hair. “Did he get picked on a lot?” Anne asked.

“Actually, no.” That piqued Anne’s interest. She leaned forward, wanting to hear how this man avoided being bullied. “There was one person, at the very beginning of the play, who said ‘You have a big nose!’ to Cyrano in the middle of a crowded theatre, but instead of asking him to stop, or showing that he was sensitive about the issues, Cyrano said ‘Is that the best you can do? I have a huge deformity, and the best you can come up with is “You have a big nose”?’ So then Cyrano goes off and lists 50 better insults the man could have used, showing everyone how smart he was and humiliating the guy who tried to humiliate him.”

Gilbert finished his story and Anne thought about it. She continued thinking about it while they finished their lunch.

“It’s such a lovely day, can we go outside?” Ruby asked the rest of the group.

They all said yes, even Anne, so they went out. Gilbert was pleased to notice Anne wasn’t wearing her hat even though she could since she left the school house. Their pleasant walk was interrupted by Billy the Bully. Having sufficiently recovered from this morning, he walked over to Anne and Gilbert.

“Hey, now there are two Lettuce Heads!” Billy said, and his friends snicker.

“Seriously?” Anne asked. “Lettuce Head? Was that really the best you could come up with?”

Gilbert smiled, knowing what was about to happen and so happy for Anne. He went over and knocked on the window, wanting everyone inside to come out and witness Billy’s destruction.

“What? You think you can come up with something better?” Billy taunted.

“I could come up with 20 better,” Anne replied confidently, as all of their classmates joined them, forming a little circle around Anne and Billy again.

“Then do it!” Billy challenged.

“Fine!” Anne said. Billy stepped back so that he was a part of the circle and Anne was alone in the centre. Anne stood there, unsure how to start.

“One!” Gilbert prompted.

“I do believe there is a frog on your head, having mistaken you for a lily-pad,” Anne started, directing her insult directly at Billy.

“Two!” Gilbert shouted again, this time being joined by Diana and Ruby.

“I see you’ve noticed my new coat, you’re positively green with jealousy,” Anne continued.

“Three!” the entire class cheered, all except Billy.

“Careful you don’t get pooped on, birds might mistake you for a field.”

“Four!”

“I never knew gangrene could infect dead hairstyles.”

“Five!”

“You dropped a lot on your head as a child, weren’t you… dropped into the compost heap, that is!”

“Six!” The class could see that Anne was getting into her groove, and Billy was shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, afraid she might actually succeed.

“When I said you needed more colour, I meant a new hair ribbon, not a new hair.”

“Seven.”

“I think I found the illegal aliens they were lacking about deporting!”

“Eight!”

“Apparently she took _Fashion Weekly_ ’s advice that green is the new red seriously.”

“Nine!”

“I love what you did with your hair! How can I get the same colour for my carpet?”

“Ten!”

“I guess you thought red was ‘too Christmas’ so you decided to make a change.”

“Eleven!”

“Do people ever look at your head and wonder if those are the greener pastures they talk about?”

“Twelve!”

“Your haircut looks infectious,” Anne commented, turning towards Gilbert. “How’s it transmitted? Staring?”

“Thirteen!”

“No need to cry, Anne. It’s only permanent.”

“Fourteen!”

“Is this the first step in you becoming a tree? Can the next be closing your mouth?”

“Fifteen!”

“Oh, Christmas Anne. Oh, Christmas Anne,” Anne sang to the tune of Christmas Tree. “You’re hair’s easy to make fun of.”

“Sixteen!” They were nearing the end and they were excited.

“It seems I woke up suddenly red-green colour blind.”

“Seventeen!”

“Did some giant sneeze on your hair? It’s the colour of boogers.”

“Eighteen!”

“Let me guess, the devil won a bet.”

“Nineteen!” Anne was struggling to find the final two, but everyone had faith in her.

“Umm, the saying goes there’s no used crying over spilt hair-dye, but in your case I think there is.”

“Twenty!”

“Careful not to fall asleep in a field, a horse will mistake your hair for grass and eat you!” Anne announced proudly.

The entire class cheered and lifted Anne up on their shoulders. Billy took his defeat well, stepping away quietly. Not that Anne noticed, she was sitting on Gilbert’s and Charlie’s shoulders being paraded around the school grounds with everyone following around them, laughing and smiling. Her green hair, once a curse, now blew gently in the wind like a flag, proud and defiant. Gilbert looked up at her, happy for her happiness as he started a chorus of “For She’s A Jolly Good Fellow” for Anne. Anne laughed and smiled as they sang. When they were done, she was let down so they could properly hug her.

It was a good day for Anne.


End file.
